This weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in the Oakland CARES Network, a convening of community advocates, Susan Taylor, and Randall Robinson. The meeting went on for three days and involved a series of dedicated individuals who are committed to mentoring Oakland’s African American youth into wellness. A noble cause, and one that I will continue to support. The safety of our communities is deserved and long overdue.

On another (but related) note, I wrote an article for TheGrio earlier this month that highlighted the safety benefits of diversity.

So many theories of change. If we align them, we just might see progress!

The article below originally appeared on TheGrio on 6/30/11:

More than 850,000 black men and women are currently incarcerated in federal or state prisons, or in local jails throughout the U.S. The conditions of confinement have caused deep wounds for African-Americans, compromising the healthy development of communities and causing collateral damages such as severed family relationships, decreased parental responsibility over children, loss of employability and wages, housing and employment discrimination, and disenfranchisement, among others.

Still, despite the numerous negative effects that have been associated with incarceration, could prison also be associated with a positive life outcome for black men?

A research study published by Vanderbilt University sociologist Evelyn Patterson in 2010 shows state prisons are having a positive effect on the mortality rates of black men. Her study estimates the rates of working-age prisoners and non-prisoners by gender and race, and finds that while prison has a “detrimental health impact on most groups,” incarcerated black males at every age experience death rates that are lower than for black males outside of prison.

Between 1996 and 1998, black men not in prison lost almost twice as many years of life between the ages of 18 and 65 as incarcerated black men. In contrast, there was only a slight difference in the mortality rates of incarcerated white men when compared to their non-incarcerated white counterparts.

The study finds that while female prisoners lost 76 percent more years of life than women in the general population, the same is not true for black men, even when researchers control for deaths related to handguns and car accidents, factors that uniquely contribute to the deaths of non-incarcerated populations.

While the disparity can be partially explained by the fact that in prison, black men have access to immediate health care and nutrition if they are in need of medical care, the mortality rates for black men in the general society remain alarming…

Continue reading here

It’s hard to believe that with the scholarship we have today, there is still a package of laws that constitute “The War on Drugs” in effect around the country. The debate rages on about how to handle illicit drug use. Meanwhile, the racial and ethnic disparities that cloud the fair administration of justice surrounding enforcement of drug laws continue. Recently, I wrote two articles for TheGrio exploring aspects of these disparities and some of the ways policymakers are seeking to ameliorate them:

Why Efforts to Soften Pot Laws are at an All-Time High (originally posted 6/9/11)
Retroactive Drug Sentencing is Change We Can Believe In (originally posted 6/2/11)

These pieces were written to discuss the criminalization of drug use and the disparate impact on communities of color. I am not now, nor have I ever been, an advocate for drug use. I do, however, strongly believe that incarceration is not the cure for addiction.

Copyright 2011 Monique W. Morris

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